Remarks on the meaning of analogical relations

Abstract

Analogical reasoning plays an important role in the context of higher cognitive abilities of humans. Analogies can be used not only to explain reasoning abilities of humans, but also to explain learning from sparse data, creative problem solving, abstractions of concrete situations, and recognition of formerly unseen situations, just to mention some examples. Research in AI and cognitive science has been proposing several different models of analogy making. Nevertheless, no approach for a model theoretic semantics of analogy making is currently available. This paper gives an analysis of the meaning (the semantics) of analogical relations that are computed by the analogy engine HDTP (Heuristic-Driven Theory Projection).